Lucky local lad leads Everton to victory

Firstly the local lad led Everton FC out as mascot in a lunchtime fixture at Goodison Park after winning a competition. And then he watched in delight as his beloved Toffees crushed defending champions Manchester United - who had former Goodison wonder kid Wayne Rooney in their ranks.

Young Caoimhin walked out in front of a packed stadium, alongside his footballing heroes, after being allowed access to the team's dressing room where he posed for photographs with club captain Phil Neville, and defender Seamus Coleman, who comes from Killybegs.

Caoimhin is a football-mad schoolboy from an Everton-crazy family and plays for Trojans Under-9s. His dad, James won the honour of leading out Everton for his boy in a competition organised by the Dublin based 'Irish Toffees' supporters group. Caoimhin has also been a member of the Irish Toffees since he was born.

And what a match to act as mascot in. Sir Alex Ferguson must be wishing his mascots were as lucky after watching his costly team being totally outplayed by the Toffees in the second half, eventually losing 3-1.

Caoimhin's dad said before leaving for Liverpool that the competition win was a great chance for his young son.

"It's an opportunity of a lifetime as far as we are concerned."

And the reality was every bit as good as had been hoped for.

James - who made the trip to Liverpool with wife Wilma and their other son Tiernan, said Caoimhin would never forget the "once in a lifetime" experience, and praised the hospitality offered by Everton FC.

The trip for the Doherty family, from Oakbridge, lasted from Thursday to Monday - the Sunday stay being necessary when everything was booked in case Sky decided to move the match back a day.

"My whole family are Evertonians," explained James, who credits his father, Jimmy Doherty - a well known local butcher with Wellworths - with being the "godfather of the Evertonians in the Doherty family."

The visit to Liverpool was organised as part of an annual trip devoted to the younger members of the Irish Toffees club, and Caoimhin enjoyed a packed weekend of activities, even apart from that extra special appearance as a mascot.

"Myself, Joe O'Reilly from Dublin and Kevin Maher from Kildare drew up a weekend itinerary," said James. "There were 115 members there altogether. We pick a weekend every year which we call the Junior Blues trip. On Friday morning we did a tour of Goodison and the Megastore. We'd hired a double decker bus. After a bite to eat we went to Finch Farm (Everton's training ground), where the younger children got a coaching session with some of the Everton coaches. One of them, Robbie Anderson, had worked with Wayne Rooney from he was a schoolboy and also coached the likes of James Vaughan and Victor Anichebe. Finch Farm is state of the art and they worked on the training pitch for about an hour and a half."

While some 40 of the younger children were put through their paces, the adults were treated to refreshments in the Academy's canteen, and james had a chance to chat to recent Everton legend, Alan Stubbs. On Friday evening, the youngsters took part in a karaoke contest in a specially booked function room at the Travel Inn. (Caoimhin came third).

The main excitement built on Saturday morning, as James and Caoimhin rose at 8am and two hours later went into the Goodison Park hospitality area, where Everton official John Heinz showed them around, Joining them was a young girl who would act as Toffee Girl, Emma Murtagh, from Mullingar whose grandfather, Tommy Eglinton graced the Goodison turf as a player. She is also a member of Irish Toffees.

"Caoimhin and Emma were given the full kit by Everton," added James. "Then the parents stayed in the hospitality area - each family had four free match tickets for the family enclosure. They brought out the biggest spread of food I've ever seen for eight people.

"The two children were taken to the dressing room to meet the players and get autographs. We were taken out onto the pitch around 12.15pm and we got Caoimhin punching the flag the way Tim Cahill does and he took shots into the goals at the Gwladys Street end. When Z Cars started to play Caoimhin went to wait for the teams and Phil Neville took his hand and walked out with him to the centre circle, and he got High 5s from Everton players as they passed.

"The atmosphere was amazing from the start," said James who also stressed: "Everton could not have done more for us."

The organised part of the trip ended with a visit to St Michael's Irish Centre on Saturday night, for a question and answer session featuring a former Everton player, and then a disco for the children.

"This was the Irish Toffees' fifth Junior Blues trip and we've seen Everton win every year, though we have also been over for other matches," said James, who added that the annual Junior Blues event came about because of the Everton in Ireland initiative set up by former Irish Toffees chairman, the late Jim Kearney.

James said that he has loads of photographs from the incredible adventure to share with Everton supporters, which will join the albums of those other memorable trips in recent years which are shared through the club's internet site.

"We have taken lots of pictures over the years which will be on the club's website, www.irish-toffees.com and there will be a lot more on from the weekend," he said.